Boat trouble

[Mike Daleo]

Hadn't had the boat out since last August, so Daniel and I had the first FOM on Ky Lake this week and headed down early Thursday morning to practice. We got to the lake as the sun came up and launched.

The boat started up just fine and idled about 7 minutes until Daniel came walking down the dock and shut off. I had used stabil back in early November so I knew we were good there. After messing ith it for a few, Daniel decided to run into the Ken Lake Marina and grab a new Primer Bulb, after installing she cranked right up and we were off.

So we run at about 45mph out of the bay there at Ken lake and as we passed the secondary channel bouys the boat boat shuts off again. Now the sun is up and we want to fish. He pumps the primer bulb again and we run another 1/2 mile and she shuts off again, but this time he notices fuel spilling from behind the motor. So we prime it again and head back to the ramp.

We pull the cowling and pump it again to see where it is leaking and it is pouring out of the canister that houses the fuel filter. It is not seated correctly and air is getting in. Not sure when that happened because the boat had been running fine until then. But Daniel gets it fixed and it runs flawlessly the rest of the trip.

Now for the next issue, about 1pm we notice the trolling motor is not as strong as it should be. By 2pm we have nothing. I put new batteries in last summer so we knew it could not be that. We head in.

Turns out the center bank on my guest charger is bad. So in order to make sure we can practice on day two, we unhook the charger fromt he cranking battery and move those charging leads over to the trolling battery that was not getting charged. Problem solved! temporarily.

We fish Friday with very few hiccups other than not finding bigger fish, but we are now worried about our cranking battery. (not gtting charged over night)

We borrowed a power booster from Jeff Boone and Eddie Goode at the pre-tourney meeting and so we have that at least if we need a jump.

So it is tournament morning, we casually stand around talking and it is time to put in. Daniel backs me down the ramp and the motor barely has a crank in her. On the trolling motor already, but at least that is fully functional. Get my partner from the dock and we use the booster to start the motor and we are off and running. Get to our first spot and boat a thousand little fish and one 15 inch squeeker.

Every time we go to another spot, before we leave we have to boost that battery to get it to start, so Daniel hears something we had not heard before. The auto-bilge has a stuck float valve or something and it is running constantly. That will kill your battery! So as I fish, Daniel is pulling the crcuit breaker panel to unhook the bilge pump!

I need a maintenance crew now to get my boat back to 100%.

We go through all of that and weigh in a whopping 4.62 pounds in two fish, our only two keepers in three days on KY Lake in early spring when the lake is on fire.

[bmas13]

Man, Murphy's Law was giving you guys the beat down! Sorry for your troubles, but you were definitely able to make something positive out of it though. Most guys would have thrown in the towel.

[ranger1055]

Mike .... Sorry you had such a rough trip. At least you found a couple to keep from zeroing.
I hope there never is a next time like that, but if there is ..... remember you have friends down here with "stuff" in their garage ...... things like battery chargers, tools, and such !!

[Mike Daleo]

Thanks! Fortunately I have a partner who does not know the meaning of the word "quit". Daniel always does what it takes to get things going in the right direction.

[KyBigBassMan]

Could have been worse....At 7:45 Saturday morning I watched a boat being towed back to the Kenlake ramp. I hope that poor fellow didn't pop his motor. At least you guys were able to improvise! Sometimes watching those old McGiver shows pays off!

[CaymasRodney]

Mike it could be worst believe me, we had four engines the last two weeks with donut holes in their blocks, two gear cases with extend sticking out the side

[jseasor]

once you get all the bugs out, she'll be fine the rest of the year...maybe next year you can fish during the winter and quit being a "fair" weather fisherman

[Daniel]

We'll get em' next time. At least we made some points and learned some things. It sure was a challenge to keep your focus.

[buzzking]

*cough* cough* NEW BOAT *cough cough*

[CaymasRodney]

A new like 2010 Randy Howell special in the forecast Mike

[fomkydirector]

You guys weren't the only ones. I was still sitting at the break wall at Moors when one of our anglers called with his motor locked up. I took him my boat and brought theirs back on the trailer. My gas needle quit working and he ran out of gas within about 1/4 mile of the Marina -- they didn't get back in time to weigh the only keeper that they caught in 2 days. What a day!!!

[t.jones]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mike Daleo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

We go through all of that and weigh in a whopping 4.62 pounds in two fish, our only two keepers in three days on KY Lake in early spring when the lake is on fire.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

It was a slow day on Sat for us. We fished a little tournament with 8 boats. We finished 3rd with one smallmouth that weighed 4.12. Only two other boats weight in fish. The guys that got first only had three fish. no one had a limit. Im still puzzled. The fish are supposed to be active after two days of sunny weather and a cold front moving in. I dont get it.

[Mike Daleo]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RangerRodney &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A new like 2010 Randy Howell special in the forecast Mike </TD></TR></TABLE>

I passed on this year's boat again Rodney. Maybe next year but with all the new bells and whistles even the pro boats are not cheap

[CaymasRodney]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mike Daleo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I passed on this year's boat again Rodney. Maybe next year but with all the new bells and whistles even the pro boats are not cheap </TD></TR></TABLE>

You got that right, it has been comon for us to add 7000.00 dollars of electronics to guys boats and even more for guys ordering new rigs.

[Dave Stewart]

Glad to see you got to fish Mike...when I saw you at Ken Lake on Friday as I was launching and you were putting your boat on the trailer I figured you were heading to Jetta or somewhere to get the gas problem fixed. I would have offered to help with the problem but when you said "gas problem" I knew it was out of my league...lol. Glad you had Daniel there with you....sounds like he is good guy to have in the boat when the gremlins get to playing...I should borrow him sometime..

As for the tough bite...it has been off on the north end of the lakes for this time of year (as indicated in my last fishing report)...the big bags are coming way south where the water temps are much better...we still have a base water temp on the north end that we normally see the first of March....and it is almost April...it has to warm up sooner or later...

[fishing4kids]

I say it was your gas spill in the lake that shut down the fish from biting. Not my fishing skills that stink. I blame you Mike and your junky Triton. LOL

[billius]

Glad you guys got to fish after all those problems. It's amazing how a boat/motor can work fine in the fall...then the first time out, have things go wrong. I've had that happen to me a few times. At least you and Daniel knew what to look for. I would have probably been at a loss.

[Joe Skeeter]

You guys usually whack them when you have trouble. There's always next time.